Federal judge punishes Rudy Giuliani for failure to comply with court order – JURIST

A US federal judge on Friday issued an order punishing former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani for “continued and flagrant disregard” of court demands.

The order resulted from Giuliani’s “failure to comply” with an August 30 order, which was issued after he was found guilty of defaming two Georgia election workers during the 2020 election, claiming they engaged in electoral fraud.  The August 30 order communicated instructions for him to submit additional evidence concerning his financial assets and his social media viewership and finance metrics. The purpose of the additional evidence was to assist the jury in determining whether Giuliani benefited financially from defaming the plaintiffs and what appropriate damage awards should be.

Accordingly, Judge Beryl Howell issued the present order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2)(A). The rule allows the court to establish the unanswered allegations of the opposing party as facts. It also prohibits the “disobedient party” from challenging those facts or introducing conflicting evidence.

Pursuant to the rule, the judge stated that the jury must be instructed that “when determining an appropriate sum of compensatory, presumed, and punitive damages, infer that defendant Giuliani was intentionally trying to hide relevant discovery.” The limiting instruction means the jury must infer the plaintiff’s claim that Giuliani “received substantial financial benefits” from defaming the plaintiffs as true. Additionally, the jury may not consider Giuliani’s financial ability to satisfy the award amounts. Judge Howell also barred Giuliani and his legal team from introducing any statements saying Giuliani did not benefit from the defamation or that he lacks the ability to pay the awards.

However, Giuliani did receive some respite in the delay of the plaintiff’s request for payment of attorney’s fees. The judge stated “that prudence dictates issuance of a single final judgment, upon which plaintiffs may then execute,” collection of attorney’s fees rather than several separate decisions.

In September, Giuliani’s former legal counsel filed a lawsuit claiming he failed to pay nearly $1.4 million in owed fees.